


Leisure reading

by imsfire



Series: Rebelcaptain appreciation week 2019 [7]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Jyn's unexpected tastes in literature, Romantic Fluff, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, cheesy romance tropes which Cassian thinks are hilarious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 07:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18464422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imsfire/pseuds/imsfire
Summary: For day six of Rebelcaptain Appreciation week 2019; free day.





	Leisure reading

**Author's Note:**

> For day six of Rebelcaptain Appreciation week 2019; free day.

It isn’t that Cassian Andor is hypersensitive.  Not in the slightest.  He cannot afford to be sensitive about his environment.  His is not a job for a man who is easily distracted. 

But oh, stars, she’s being distracting tonight.

He’s been trying to finish re-reading this set of briefing docs since they got back from the mess.  It’s useful data and he wants to have read it all thoroughly at least twice before he ships out the day after tomorrow.  Much better to read and re-read, to memorise confidently, than to be carrying notes and checking facts in the field.  It’s a custom he’s built up over years, and it works.

Years when he didn’t have a – girlfriend? Lover?  He still isn’t quite sure what term to use. 

 _Amor, novia, querida, amante_ , his mind supplies helpfully.  _Sweetheart, beloved, my dear one, my darling; adorada, cariño abrigada, mi amor, mi amor…_

Beside him on the bunk Jyn fidgets, eyes glued to her own data-pad.   From the sounds she’s making and her periodic awkward movements, she’s finding it hard to settle comfortably.  He has no idea why, since the bed is exactly the same as usual, just a standard two-person bunk in officers’ quarters here on _Home One_.

He spares her a glance; she’s biting her lips and almost glaring at the screen.  He imagines with amusement how she would react if she could hear his sentimental inner voice reciting that list, all the loving names he’d like to call her.  _My lover, my love, adored, cherished, dearest one_.  Yes, Jyn would probably have a quick happy laugh at his expense if she knew.

He’s about to turn back to his next document file when he notices something else.  A tiny detail, but one that has no place in this everyday picture of Jyn curled up beside him reading her own briefing.  She’s breathing slightly too fast.  Almost as though she’s got a fever, or something is preoccupying her, something intense, emotionally stimulating…

“Jyn?  Is everything okay?”

“Hmm, what?  Oh.  Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.  Something’s bothering you.”

“No,” Jyn says, still faintly breathless. “Honest.  Nothing.”

It isn’t a response that suggests honesty, and there’s a kind of heated tingle in her voice, as though she’s both teasing and hiding it.  There’s a faint flush on her cheeks, too, and she keeps her head down, and if he didn’t recognise that hidden-grin tone he’d almost believe she’s simply embarrassed to neglect her work. 

But she sounds amused and – excited?

“There must be something really gripping about that briefing.  You haven’t put it down once since I came in.”  That blush makes him think it isn’t a problem at all, but something amusing she’s keeping from him; and he appreciates that it’s doubtless well-meant, if so, but he’d rather not have to deal with some kind of prank out of the blue, just the same.  Perhaps if he asks her outright – after all, she knows he doesn’t really like them - “Jyn, is someone planning a practical joke somewhere on board _Home One_?”

“What? **No**!” This time she does lower the pad; but with the text facing her chest, so he can’t get a glimpse of a single word.  Her voice is warmly sincere this time, not the tiniest flicker of deception. “It’s nothing like that.  Promise.”

He can trust that; but it still leaves him curious. “What is it that you’re reading, then?  It’s got you a lot more excited than any briefing doc should by rights.”

“Oh.  Yeah.  About that.  I – I finished the briefing stuff a while ago.  This is – something else.  Just a bit of – leisure reading.  To, uh, relax me.  Before the mission.  You know?”

He knows people who read fiction or poetry to relax; but not usually Jyn.  Normally she’d go to the gym and work out, or play patience games with Bodhi’s sabacc set, or whittle bits of green wood with a vibro-blade.  It’s intriguing to find this aspect of her reaction to tension, as yet unknown to him.  And if her state of mild excitement is anything to go by, she must be enjoying the book. “Read me a bit?”

“Force, no!”

Interesting.  What is it, pornography?  Resistance-hero roleplay fiction?  He smiles at her disgruntled expression. “Please, sweetness, just read me a line or two?”

“Oh no.  No, no, no, you don’t want to hear this.  It’s shit.  Honest.”

“If you’re enjoying it, it can’t be shit.” She isn’t meeting his eye, now.  Cassian puts a tiny bit more emphasis into his voice. “Jyn.  Read me a few lines.  I want to hear it.”

“Oh very well then,” Jyn says, half grumpy, half resigned.  She clears her throat, wets her lips. “Okay. ‘There was a new note in the pirate’s voice suddenly, an assertive tone, powerful and deep.’  Hem.   ‘The sound made Lady Vanaré shiver inwardly.  She gripped the ship’s starboard rail in her delicate hands, gazing out at the perfect sunset over the Paonga Sea as the gentle breeze fluttered her long spidersilk veil.’  Honestly, Cassian, it’s – it’s not great literature.”

It takes him a moment to assimilate just how much this is not what he’d anticipated.  Porn? – Reader-insert adventure stories?  Oh no.  She’s reading an actual outright romance novel, or he’s a gonk droid.  A Naboo-set historical romance.  With pirates.

“’How she longed for ‘ –“ Jyn clears her throat again and goes on, turning steadily more pink –“‘for Captain Dieri to speak to her again.  For that possessive, manly tone to be meant just for her.’”

Well, it is undeniably bad; also hilarious.  But he isn’t going to laugh.  He won’t give her so much as a quiver of a micro-expression.  The sight of Jyn lying prone on their bunk, flushed and awkward and with her voice getting slightly squeaky, but also beginning to smile at the shared ridiculousness of what she’s reading (and enjoying, she was most definitely enjoying the book no matter how she may deny it); it’s an enticing picture, one he wants to enjoy for a few seconds more.

“Captain Dieri and Lady Vanaré, eh?” he says, making his own voice deliberately gruff. “Go on.”

“Huh.  Suit yourself.” Jyn scrolls the page again.  Glances up at him from under her lashes. “Next line.  ‘She could only imagine how commanding his touch would be.  How his embrace, his kiss, would overwhelm her.’  Ahem.  ‘Vanaré had known many admirers but none had ever excited her as the Captain did.  The rough strong touch of his voice caressed the air and seemed to pull back the veil from her fevered bosom.  She longed to know how the lean weight of his body would feel against hers, to know how he might bear her down into the bed and press her there, if only, if only…’ And it just goes on like that.” Jyn clears her throat once more, biting her lips to hold back her grin. “Said you wouldn’t like it.  It’s just a trashy romance.”

It’s – irresistible, is what it is.  And he’s been staring at a screen for a long time; it’s restful for the eyes to watch her instead, as she lies there, blushing and failing to hide her smile. “And that’s the part you were reading just now?  When you were fidgeting so much?”

“Was not fidgeting.”

“Oh, Jyn.” He pushes back his chair and crosses to the bunk in a single stride; before Jyn can move, he’s settled on the mattress beside her, leaning over her, one hand to either side of her shoulders. “You were fidgeting a lot for someone who was only reading about a sunset and a few dreamy romantic thoughts.  Was that really the bit?”

“Well, maybe I – scrolled back a few pages.  You really wouldn’t like the bit I’d got to.”

“Try me,” Cassian says, leaning in. “Maybe I’ll like it plenty.” He’s got her pinned, and she knows it; she squirms and suppresses a giggle as he lowers himself onto her and presses his lips to the side of her throat. “What was going on in the story?  Tell me, Jyn.  You know you want to.”

“You’re tickling me,” Jyn says, breathless.  Her hands creeping up his back – both hands, she’s dropped the data-pad somewhere, not that he minds. “Don’t stop,” she adds, stroking his spine, rucking his shirt up.

“Ooh, but maybe I want to know the rest of the story first.  Maybe I want to know if the captain got as far as pressing his lean body down on hers yet?” He nibbles her earlobe. “Did they enjoy an innocent first kiss, maybe?  Or were they enjoying rather a lot more than that?”

“They were – certainly enjoying themselves.”

Cassian rocks against her.  Raises himself up to look down at her flushed, happy face. “Read me the next bit sometime?” he teases.  Because if it makes Jyn feel good and makes her chuckle like this and touch him like this, who cares if it’s both ridiculous and clichéd, this overwritten saga of sultry aristocratic ladies and their smouldering pirate lovers?

“Ohh, some other time, maybe.  Not now.” Jyn wriggles a hand free again to thread her fingers into his hair, and pulls him closer. “Kiss me, please, Cassian?”

“Very well.  _My lady_.”

She’s laughing at herself as he leans down, and he silences her lips with his own.   


End file.
